It’s been nearly two weeks since a jury found singer R. Kelly guilty on nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking in Brooklyn federal court.
Now, in an interesting move, YouTube has decided to remove both of the “Ignition” singer’s channels from its platform. According to NBC News, YouTube has permanently suspended Kelly’s RKellyVevo and RKellyTV, citing the singer’s recent conviction and subsequent violation of its Creator Responsibility Guidelines. Those guidelines prohibit users from engaging in any “on- and/or off-platform behavior harms our users, community, employees or ecosystem” including the intent to “cause malicious harm to others, the participation in abuse or violence,” and “demonstrations of cruelty, or fraudulent/deceptive behavior leading to real world harm.”
More on YouTube’s decision per NBC News:
YouTube cited the fact that the prosecution against Kelly, 54, a Grammy-winning R&B singer, was based on the allegation that he leveraged his celebrity and power in the music industry to sexually abuse women and young girls.
Kelly will no longer be able to use, own or create any other YouTube channels, the platform decided. The service will delete a new channel if it is used to re-upload content from a previously terminated account.END BLOCK QUOTE
In a memo viewed by Bloomberg, YouTube’s Head of Legal Nicole Alston explained: “Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm. Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.”
However, as the BBC also notes, Kelly’s music will still be available to stream via YouTube Music, and his music videos that are posted by other YouTube users will still be allowed to stay up on the platform. Additionally, other music streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Tidal have yet to remove the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s music from off of their platform.
So if you’re one of those people who still want to step in the name of a convicted sex trafficker, have fun while it lasts. Much like Kelly’s reign of terror and trauma, your days of two-stepping probably won’t last for too much longer, either.